"Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal Of
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NUREG-1437, Volume 2 Revision 1 Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants Public Comments Final Report Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation AVAILABILITY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS IN NRC PUBLICATIONS NRC Reference Material Non-NRC Reference Material As of November 1999, you may electronically access Documents available from public and special technical NUREG-series publications and other NRC records at libraries include all open literature items, such as books, NRC’s Public Electronic Reading Room at journal articles, transactions, Federal Register notices, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. 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NUREG-1437, Volume 2 Revision 1 Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants Public Comments Final Report Manuscript Completed: May 2013 Date Published: June 2013 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Cover Sheet Responsible Agency: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Title: Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (NUREG-1437) Volumes 1, 2, and 3, Revision 1 For additional information or copies of this Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, contact: Division of License Renewal U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Mail Stop O-11F1 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, Maryland 20852 Phone: 1-800-368-5642, extension 1183 Fax: (301) 415-2002 Email: [email protected] Abstract U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations allow for the renewal of commercial nuclear power plant operating licenses. To support the license renewal environmental review process, the NRC published the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GEIS) in 1996. The proposed action considered in the GEIS is the renewal of nuclear power plant operating licenses. Since publication of the GEIS, approximately 40 plant sites (70 reactor units) have applied for license renewal and undergone environmental reviews, the results of which were published as supplements to the 1996 GEIS. This GEIS revision reviews and reevaluates the issues and findings of the 1996 GEIS. Lessons learned and knowledge gained during previous license renewal reviews provide a significant source of new information for this assessment. In addition, new research, findings, public comments, and other information were considered in evaluating the significance of impacts associated with license renewal. The intent of the GEIS is to determine which issues would result in the same impact at all nuclear power plants and which issues could result in different levels of impact at different plants and thus require a plant-specific analysis for impact determinations. The GEIS revision identifies 78 environmental impact issues for consideration in license renewal environmental reviews, 59 of which have been determined to be generic to all plant sites. The GEIS also evaluates a full range of alternatives to the proposed action. For most impact areas, the proposed action would have impacts that would be similar to or less than impacts of the alternatives, in large part because most alternatives would require new power plant construction, whereas the proposed action would not. iii NUREG-1437, Revision 1 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement This NUREG contains information collection requirements that are subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 USC 3501 et seq.). 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NUREG-1437, Revision 1 iv Contents COVER SHEET/ABSTRACT .......................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xix ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE ........................ xxvii ABBREVIATED POWER PLANT NAMES ...................................................................... xxxv UNITS OF MEASURES .................................................................................................. xxxvi CONVERSIONS ............................................................................................................. xxxix SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... S-1 S.1 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action ................................................... S-3 S.2 Development of the Revised Generic Environmental Impact Statement ........ S-4 S.3 Impact Definitions and Categories .................................................................. S-6 S.4 Affected Environment ..................................................................................... S-7 S.5 Impacts from Continued Operations and Refurbishment Activities Associated with License Renewal .................................................................. S-8 S.6 Comparison of Alternatives ............................................................................. S-20 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 Purpose of the GEIS ....................................................................................... 1-2 1.2 Description of the Proposed Action ................................................................ 1-3 1.3 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action ..................................................